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Alphabetical (album)

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Alphabetical
A black and white collage of images with musical instruments and band members of Phoenix.
Studio album by
Phoenix
Released29 March 2004
Recorded2003–2004
Genre
Length37:37
LabelSource
Producer
Phoenix chronology
United
(2000) 		Alphabetical
(2004) 		Live! Thirty Days Ago
(2004)
Singles from Alphabetical
  1. "Run Run Run"
    Released: 19 April 2004[1]
  2. "Everything Is Everything"
    Released: 21 June 2004
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic74/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Alternative Press4/5[4]
Blender[5]
DIY[6]
Drowned in Sound8/10[7]
NME8/10[8]
Pitchfork6.7/10[9]
Rolling Stone[10]
SpinB−[11]
Uncut[12]

Alphabetical is the second studio album by French indie pop band Phoenix, released in 2004. The album has two singles, "Everything Is Everything" and "Run Run Run".

Commercial performance

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The album has sold 30,000 copies in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan.[13] Overall it has shipped 170,000 copies worldwide [14] with 65,000 shipped units in continental Europe and Japan, 20,000 of those were in France.[15]

Critical response

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Alphabetical was met with largely positive reviews. DIY Magazine called the record "a beautiful and melodious, yet still not quite on a par with some of their debut album."[16] Drowned in Sound described Alphabetical as "a deceptively simply album; a lot of work has gone into making tunes as beautifully organic as this sound so impressively pieced together." They gave the album 8/10, concluding it to be "so utterly, utterly Parisian. Not French, mind, Parisian. But what else did you expect? The most sophisticated, deliciously out of step pop album of 2004 simply had to come from the most urbane, beautiful city in the world."[17] Pitchfork praised the lead single "Everything Is Everything" as "a glorious example of how to write a classically ambiguous soft-pop song." They gave the album a score of 6.7 describing the entire record as something that "doesn't ask you to remember it in the morning."[18]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Phoenix

Alphabetical track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Everything Is Everything"3:01
2."Run Run Run"3:50
3."I'm an Actor"2:33
4."Love for Granted"4:24
5."Victim of the Crime"4:02
6."(You Can't Blame It On) Anybody"3:33
7."Congratulations"1:12
8."If It's Not with You"3:57
9."Holdin' on Together"3:27
10."Alphabetical"3:24
11."Congratulations (Revisited)" (iTunes bonus track)1:08

Personnel

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  • Deck D'Arcy – bass guitar, keyboards and backing vocals
  • Laurent Brancowitz – guitar, keyboards and backing vocals
  • Thomas Mars – vocals and drums
  • Christian Mazzalai – guitar and backing vocals

Additional musicians

  • Ivan Beck – acoustic guitar (4)
  • Pino Palladino – bass (5, 7, 10)
  • Jm Mery – additional keyboards (7, 8, 10)
  • Alex Locascio – drums and percussion (1, 3, 4, 5)

Charts

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Chart performance for Alphabetical
Chart (2004) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[19] 46
Belgian Alternative Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[19] 19
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[20] 42
French Albums (SNEP)[21] 41
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[22] 68
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[23] 265
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[24] 4
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[25] 11

Release history

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Release history and formats for Alphabetical
Country Date Label Format Catalog
Japan 24 March 2005 Toshiba-EMI CD VJCP 68627
  • Europe
  • United Kingdom
 29 March 2004 Source LP SOURLP095
CD CDSOUR095
France 30 March 2004
Australia 12 April 2004 Virgin 5986350
United States 27 July 2004
7243 5 98635 0 4

References

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  1. ^ Martin, James (April 24, 2004). "French Phoenix Rises". Billboard. p. 52. Retrieved July 2, 2024.
  2. ^ "Reviews for Alphabetical by Phoenix". Metacritic. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  3. ^ Kellman, Andy. "Alphabetical – Phoenix". AllMusic. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  4. ^ "Phoenix: Alphabetical". Alternative Press (194): 136. September 2004.
  5. ^ "Phoenix: Alphabetical". Blender (29): 140. September 2004.
  6. ^ Leahy, Sarah (29 March 2004). "Phoenix – Alphabetical". DIY. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  7. ^ Dobson, Gareth (26 July 2004). "Album Review: Phoenix – Alphabetical". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on 4 December 2014. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  8. ^ "Phoenix: Alphabetical". NME: 57. 19 June 2004.
  9. ^ Leone, Dominique (17 May 2004). "Phoenix: Alphabetical". Pitchfork. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  10. ^ Moayeri, Lily (2 August 2004). "Phoenix: Alphabetical". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 17 March 2005. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  11. ^ "Breakdown". Spin. 20 (8): 108. August 2004. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  12. ^ "French Letters". Uncut (86): 110. July 2004. Archived from the original on 10 July 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  13. ^ "Phoenix Rises With New Album, Label". Billboard. Archived from the original on 3 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-27.
  14. ^ Pichevin, Aymeric (17 June 2006). "Phoenix Flying". Billboard. p. 62. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  15. ^ Martin, James (24 April 2004). "French Phoenix Rises". Billboard. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  16. ^ "Phoenix - Alphabetical". DIY Mag. DIY Mag. 2024-07-20. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  17. ^ "Phoenix Alphabetical". Drowned in Sound. Drowned in Sound. 2004-05-14. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  18. ^ "Phoenix Alphabetical". Pitchfork. Pitchfork. 2004-05-17. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  19. ^ a b "Ultratop.be – Phoenix – Alphabetical" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  20. ^ "Ultratop.be – Phoenix – Alphabetical" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  21. ^ "Lescharts.com – Phoenix – Alphabetical". Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  22. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Phoenix – Alphabetical" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  23. ^ アルファベティカル (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  24. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Phoenix – Alphabetical". Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  25. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Phoenix – Alphabetical". Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
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